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Lauren McCabe writes:
Today was one of those days when I walked about class with a big ol’ grin on my face, thinking “I didn’t even plan for that!”
My last period of government class on Friday always tends be a little hard for students to focus on, because the weekend is just an hour away. We had been on a field trip the day before and all day it had been difficult to get students to concentrate -- or even wake up, for that matter.
My lesson focused on the Declaration of Human Rights and how we see these rights used or not used in the United States. My students found it hard to find many rights that actually applied to them or to the way the United States runs. Immigration became a heated topic; so did homelessness. Finally, after listening to a lot of valid arguments, I decided to veer off the lesson plan and turn the discussion into something productive.
“Let’s create our own Declaration of Human Rights!” I said, with an enthusiasm that is not the norm for our Friday government class.
Continue reading Declaration of Rights »
Lance Chapman writes:
“So you’ll change this to a B or C, right?” a student asked me after I informed her of the F (41%) she would be receiving on her progress report. I was slightly offended that she asked.
As trite as it sounds, I definitely agree with the saying, “I don’t give grades. You earn them.” After outlining my formula for grading, which I have been making clear since the first day, I showed her just how important it was for her to do her homework. She had turned in two out of 12 assignments, significantly lowering her final grade. Moreover, she had not taken advantage of any of the extra-credit assignments I had offered.
Continue reading Oh grades... »
Nick Giulioni writes:
In recent weeks, I have been feeling myself growing increasingly stressed. This additional anxiety is the culmination of homework, college applications, SATs, and other teenage things. With all of these time-consuming and pressure-filled activities devouring my life, I have found little time to sleep, and, consequently, my health degrading.
Being a former football player, I am quite proud of my physique and health, but with the growing responsibilities I have, I often find it easy to neglect exercise in favor of getting work done and thus improving my GPA.
So, with lack of exercise, sleep, and way too much work, I felt like I had been through a physical and emotional blender. But in one lunch period, I became revitalized.
My friend brought a football to school, and we played a game of two-hand touch. This gave us all a chance to stretch our cramped legs, a chance to compete against one another in a friendly environment, and a chance to just have some fun.
This opportunity proves to me the therapeutic properties of friends and exercise. It gave us a break from our responsibilities to just be kids again. And, just for the record, I made an amazing one-handed catch in the end zone to win the game.
Lauren McCabe writes:
The school year is in full swing! Major assessments are coming up and parent conferences are just around the corner. My students and I have, for the most part, gotten over our rough patch and a culture of respect is building in my classroom. To say that every day is perfect would be far from the truth, but I’m learning that that’s OK and typical of all classrooms.
A new disturbing trend has bubbled up among my students despite our small success in the classroom.
Continue reading checking out »
Nick Giulioni writes:
I don’t think I can put into words how important Color Day is for the Tigers (not just for the students, the teachers get into it too). In our race to complete the curriculum, the school doesn’t take students out of class often, but Color Day is one of those rare exceptions. There is a giant assembly where the grades compete in different events, including dancing and costume design. It is a day for the school to come together and embody exactly what it means to be a Tiger.
One of the two-time costume design champions for the Class of 2008 eagerly hints at her group’s costumes: “We’ve had them all planned out since freshman year, but we have never been able to pull this one off. We’ve put a lot of work into it and have enlisted help from parents. I know we’ve won in the past, but this is going to top all of our past [costumes]. This is our last Color Day, and we’re going out with a bang.”
Although I have not had mine planned since freshman year, I have allowed my experiences at SPHS to shape and contribute to my costume this year. While my group and I don’t aim to compete for best costumes, this is our last Color Day too, and we don’t plan on being outdone.
Maybe my school is just different. Maybe we’re less critical. Maybe we’re more spirited. One way or another, South Pasadena will be awash in orange on our annual Color Day.
Nick Giulioni writes:
In the highly critical world of adolescence, insults are common, even expected. At a young age, one develops a certain resistance, a wall to protect one’s self-esteem. But recently, I was on the receiving end of an insult that ripped apart my wall, tore though my defense and took a deep bite into my self-esteem. My worth was questioned, not by a peer, but by a teacher.
Graphing points and connecting them with lines to form pictures is elementary school work to introduce students to graphing and eventually lead into algebra. I’m in a course several years beyond algebra, but I found myself graphing this morning because my teacher was absent for a day and got behind. So instead of doing what a rational person would do (not assign busy work) this teacher decided to give some of the most degrading busy work I have ever experienced.
Perhaps I’m just more apt to get upset about this because I tend to keep myself very busy, but I felt as if my time was being disrespected. This is work my 9-year-old sister should be doing, not me, a senior in high school.
So I spent 40 minutes working on a pointless assignment that I can’t possibly gain anything from. I decided to neglect exercise to fit this busy work into my schedule. But, hey, at least I got to draw a pineapple.
Lance Chapman writes:
I’ve always found it advantageous to speak Spanish, but I never thought it would be as helpful as it has been. It was Back to School Night and I was incredibly excited to meet the parents and guardians of my students. I was informed by a few teachers that most of the monolingual Spanish-speaking parents would bring their children to serve as translators. It was so great to meet these parents and greet them in their native language. They almost all commented on how great it was to carry on a personal conversation about their children in Spanish. I have to admit that I relished seeing my students’ faces that night when they learned that their science teacher speaks Spanish. It was amazing to note the behavior improvement for many students the following day. In fact, a few students, although they know to speak English in the classroom, always speak Spanish to me outside the class. It’s great to speak Spanish to students with behavior problems about my expectations for them and see a drastic improvement.
That night was revealing in a sense as well. I honestly thought that many of the parents would ask my age, but instead, the majority complimented me for my energy and passion for science. A few parents even told me that their children would come home and comment on how much I move and sweat in the classroom. I don’t even notice that I physically move a lot around the classroom; honestly, I just do it without thinking about it. Another thing I was told a lot was that their students will return home and tell a “Mr. Chapman story,” most notably the time when we had free time at the end of class and my students were skeptical of the fact that blood can rush to one’s head (I walked on my hands for 30 seconds and immediately stood up to directly show them this.)
In sum, it was an amazing night and I felt so much closer to my students as a result of the evening. And when I talk to their parents again, we will know each other -- and, most important, each others' expectations for their children.
Lauren McCabe writes:
As the leader of my classroom, I guide students toward understanding, dive into different issues with them and explore new concepts on a daily basis. With this responsibility comes my great passion for my students' learning, however, my students are not always so eager to please. That glorious honeymoon period, where students are respectful and trying to make good first impressions, has passed much too quickly. Who are these students and what did they do with the angels who were sitting in front of me just two weeks ago?
Continue reading The honeymoon is over! »
Nick Giulioni writes:
When I first entered USC’s website to try part 1 of the application process, I quickly learned how much I don’t know about myself. What should have been a simple and easy procedure turned out to be difficult because there was so much information that I just didn’t know.
One of my first failures was when I didn’t remember my Social Security number. I know, I know. I should never forget something that important, but honestly, how often is a high school student going to need to know that information? I also didn’t know my cumulative, unweighted GPA, which would be easy to find out at school if I had just planned ahead and gotten that information. Finally, I didn’t know my scores to all the sections of the SAT (I hadn’t taken it since last year.)
So, by the end of the process, I found myself to be incompetent in regard to myself. It seems that this is just an early stage of the weeding-out process that I failed -- at least until the following week when I’ve had time to talk to my mom and my counselor. So for anyone else out there who is/will be filling out college applications, I recommend you have this information at your fingertips because right now, I’m stuck waiting on data I should have known.
Lance Chapman writes:
She had been dismissed from summer school because of serious behavior problems and, honestly, I thought I would never see her again. Much to my surprise, she enrolled at Gompers a week and a half after school started this fall and was placed in my physical science course. “Mr. Chapman, I’m BACK!” she yelled when she first entered my class. It amazed me to see how this class, which had started off the year so well and was meeting the expectations I had set, was directly influenced by this girl’s presence. If she complained, they would complain. If she gave me attitude, they would as well.
At first I was deeply angered by her presence in my classroom. We had been moving so fluidly and making such progress that it frustrated me to teach less content and deal with more misbehavior. I knew I would need to make this girl a class leader if I was going to regain the class that had started off so strongly. “If you listen carefully today and show me that you know how to solve these advanced speed problems, I’ll let you teach the class for five minutes at the end,” I said to her. I was amazed to see how well this worked. She wanted that limelight so badly that she was going to make sure she mastered those problems. She did an absolutely beautiful job explaining the problems and I was so proud of her for engaging the class in a positive light for once.
I wish I could say this works every day, but that certainly would not be accurate. More often than not she’ll enter my class and immediately start cursing or hitting someone and will refuse to sit in her seat. Each time I dismiss her from my class (after a few warnings), I try to reinforce the fact that I want her there but that I cannot allow such misconduct in my classroom. This has been a great challenge for me, and although the administration has offered numerous times to remove her from my class, something inside me tells me to keep trying with her because she showed me such potential that one day when she solved and taught advanced problems.
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